Surgical gloves are universally recognized as a major safeguard against the risk of inadvertent or accidental infection in the administration of medical and dental treatment. Both medical practitioners and patients rely on the protection these gloves provide.
This invention relates to a packaging system for the sale and use of surgical gloves, which allows them to be handled for commercial purposes while keeping them free from contamination. The problems of donning surgical gloves under sterile conditions and the shortcomings of presently available packaged gloves are well known, as explained in detail, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,002,276.
The donning of surgical gloves today usually requires the help of an assistant, who must also be concerned about the maintenance of sterile conditions. These gloves are usually packaged with their cuffs or sleeves turned or rolled downwardly. They must be removed from the package by an assistant, touching only these downwardly turned cuffs. When the glove is donned by pulling or unrolling its cuff or sleeve, the entirety of the previously exposed cuff is on the inside of the glove and touches only the wearer's skin.
Donning the glove may require an assistant to stretch open the cuff, so the wearer may easily insert his fingers into the bottoms or ends of the glove fingers. It is not practical for a wearer to don a glove by himself. It becomes even more impractical for the wearer to put on a second glove, because it must be pulled on with an already surgically gloved hand. The impracticality of putting on surgical gloves without assistance can preclude the administration of first aid or emergency medical treatment under sterile conditions when an assistant is not present. Also, a medical practitioner may find it necessary to delay needed emergency treatment while he or she goes through the awkward procedure of donning gloves unassisted.
Until the wearer's fingers are fully inserted into the glove fingers of presently available gloves, the gloves tend to dangle. This dangling enhances the possibility that the glove will be contaminated by brushing up against, or touching, a non-sterilized surface or object. The wearer may not realize that the glove has become contaminated, and, even if he does, critical time may be lost while a new hygienic glove is donned.
Surgical gloves are usually powdered on their insides to facilitate donning, since they must fit so tightly. This powdering, however, increases the manufacturing complexity of surgical gloves and, accordingly, their price. Also, the powder may accidentally end up on the outside of the glove, from which it must be removed before medical treatment can continue.
Surgical gloves are easily punctured and must, therefore, be readily changeable during medical treatment. When an assistant must be relied upon to change a surgical glove, however, the assistant's glove may become contaminated in the process. If the assistant's glove is already contaminated, it must be replaced before the surgeon's glove can be replaced.